How to make the most of a spacious Greenwich Village apartment with windows on only one side

featured on Brick Underground

Architect and Feng Shui expert Anjie Cho loves the high ceilings in this Greenwich Village fixer-upper, 808 Broadway, #4H, which, she says, make the already spacious apartment look even larger than it is. Other pros include its location and the fact that it was designed by architect James Renwick, Jr., who also designed nearby Grace Church and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Her beef with the unit, which is listed for $875,000, is that there are windows only at one end of the apartment, meaning that despite having “quite a bit of square footage, you can only have one legal bedroom in the space,” she says.

In this week’s Reno Ready, Cho explains what she’d do to update this apartment, including leveling the floors, gutting the bathroom, and integrating the kitchen into the living space.

Level the flooring in the living room

Floor: Cho can’t exactly tell what’s going on with the flooring from the photos, but she assumes it’s in bad shape like the rest of the unit. She’d replace it with herringbone- or chevron-patterned floors in a light-colored white oak, which will make the unit appear brighter.

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How to spruce up a Sheepshead Bay co-op with a peach-tiled bath and plain kitchen

featured this month on Brick Underground by Leah Hochbaum Rosner

This Sheepshead Bay one bedroom, 2711 Ave., X, #6D is asking $225,000 and has a lot going for it, according to architect and Feng Shui expert Anjie Cho, including a “workable” floor plan, a private balcony, and decent-looking floors.

Still, there are lots of things that could be improved, such as the prodigiously peach bathroom, which she believes needs to be gutted immediately. “The wallpaper. That vanity. That gray tub. Oh my God,” she says.

She also hates the tiny, makeshift sunroom between the living room and terrace—which accounts for the second layer of windows visible behind the original windows—as well as two terrace doors. It takes precious square footage away from the terrace and makes the back wall in the living room look too busy. It’s also fairly shabby-looking, she says, noting the exposed wiring and “dingy” doors. “It’s the first thing you see when you walk in. It doesn’t make a very good impression.”

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Dive deeper into feng shui to transform your life!

Mindful Design is a new way to learn feng shui. Create sacred spaces that support, and nourish.

Visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com

The hellish kitchen in this Hell's Kitchen apartment needs a miraculous makeover

featured this month on Brick Underground by Leah Hochbaum Rosner

Everything about this apartment “just looks so sad,” says Anjie Cho, an architect and feng  shui expert. 

The fixer-upper unit is a co-op in Hell’s Kitchen at 354 West 48th St.

Cho sums the place up thusly: “The flooring is sad. The paint colors are sad. The kitchen needs a complete makeover. The lighting is really bad.”   

Listed for just $350,000, apartment #2FE, a second-floor one bedroom, is eminently affordable. (Then again, it's a Housing Development Fund Corporation co-op, so there are income restrictions to keep in mind: $36,288 a year for one or two people and $42,336 for three people.) Another bonus for whoever does end up buying the place: the kitchen is big and has an eat-in area.

"It definitely has potential," Cho says.

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